Biggles
I know a few Easy Jet Captains and if conditions are correct and the airspace not too demanding they often hand fly below RVSM airspace.
After a spate of accidents due to over reliance on the automatics that is now being encouraged.
I know in my own realm of corporate Jets on short position flights below RVSM for Maintenance etc we will make it a must to hand fly the whole sector as it really keeps to on the ball to match the accuracy of the automatics. I never especially on the Older Biz Jets trust the automatics anyway )
Like the Airlines with PAX and if conditions and airspace congestion allow we often hand fly the departure SIDS and arrivals STARS anyway. The Key is airspace up to RVSM levels
I think you will find the Airlines do similar ? Comments